If this year’s Giro d’Italia is a contest between Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglič, the first round saw the Slovenian pummeled by the Belgian. The 106th Giro d’Italia launched on Saturday with a La Grande Partenza time trial from Fossacesia Marina to Ortona, site of a terrible battle between Canadian in German troops during World War II. Evenepoel took the day and the first jersey.
Roglič is 47 seconds down, João Almeida 22 seconds adrift, and the Ineos duo of Tao Geoghegan Hart and Geraint Thomas must to make up 40 and 55 seconds respectively.
The Course
This mostly-flat 19.6 chrono, much of it along the Costa dei Trabocchi cycle path, ended with a 1.2 km climb of 5.2 percent and then a gradual rise to the line in Ortona. There were intermediate time checks at the 9.5 km mark and the 16.5 km mark.
#Giro 🇮🇹
The second rider down the start ramp is our Kiwi @cammy_stew1 making his Grand Tour debut! 🇳🇿🥝
Here’s a look at today’s 19.6km TT course ⬇️⏱️ pic.twitter.com/Lart4ewdus
— Team Jayco AlUla (@GreenEDGEteam) May 6, 2023
Belgian Laurens Huys was the first to finish with a time of 24:28. The hotseat changed haunches several times in the early going. EF Education-Easypost’s South African Stefan de Bod was on the throne for a long time with 22:32, until Mads Pedersen hit 22:20.
Derek Gee was the 85th rider to roll down the start ramp at the Fossacesia Marina. His time was 23:05.
Pedersen’s top time fell to UAE-Emirates’ American Brandon McNulty and his 22:06. McNulty’s Australian teammate Jay Vine was going like a house afire on the course and cracked the best time by two seconds.
Ineos’ recent Tour of the Alps winner Tao Geoghegan Hart ejected Vine from the chair with 21:58. Strong podium contender João Almeida was having none of this Ineos business and pulled the lead back for UAE-Emirates with 21:48.
Evenepoel had a staggering start, beating the best first intermediate time by 20 seconds. Roglič was 26 seconds slower at the same point, and even chrono king Filippo Ganna was 12 seconds adrift.
It just got worse for both Roglič and Ganna after that. They’ll both be aware that there’s an even longer time trial at the end of Week 1.
But first, on Sunday, the sprinters will have their day.
2023 Giro d’Italia Stage 1
1) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Soudal-QuickStep) 21:18
2) Filippo Ganna (Italy/Ineos) +0:22
3) João Almeida (Portugal/UAE-Emirates)…
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